RAJA LENTIL (LENS-CULINARIS MEDIK)

'Rajah' (Lens culinaris Medik.) is a new red lentil cultivar developed for the New Zealand lentil export industry. This cultivar has a large r seed size than the only other commercially available red cotyledoned lentil cultivar grown in New Zealand-'Titore'. 'Rajah' has improved t olerance to ascochyta blight caused by Ascochyta fabae f.sp. lentis. I n spring-sown regional evaluation trials conducted in Canterbury by Cr op & Food Research, over three successive seasons, 'Rajah' produced se ed yields consistently higher than 'Titore' and exhibited a higher lev el of tolerance to ascochyta blight.